The Nissan logo is seen on the front of a brand new Nissan SUV at a Nissan dealership in Millbrae, Calif.

Nissan Expands Recall Over Explosive Air Bags

Nissan is recalling more than 226,000 additional vehicles over a defective air bag that has affected much of the global auto industry.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Saturday that Nissan North America Inc. is recalling certain lines of its Infiniti, Maxima, Pathfinder and Sentra cars for the model years 2002 to 2004. Faulty air bags have already been blamed for the recall of millions of cars around the world in recent years, including those made by BMW, Chrysler, Ford, Honda, Mazda and Toyota.

The air bag systems were made by Takata Corp., a Tokyo-based supplier of car parts. The problem is that the air bag inflators can rupture, causing metal fragments to fly out when the air bags are deployed in crashes. That can potentially cause serious injury to passengers.

A representative for Nissan said the company isn't aware of any accidents or injuries related to the recall. The latest recall of 226,326 cars is in addition to a previous recall and brings the total number of cars recalled by Nissan to 664,628.